Toptomcat

The roundhouse would've been a solid hit to the temple of anyone unarmored, but glances right off the carefully-angled plates of Shinken's helmet. Shinken catches the foot between shoulder and neck, pushing forward to force Nightrival off- balance for a moment: then, he bolts, running away from his opponent at top speed...straight towards the group of watching ninja! Going down into a roll at nearly top speed, he comes up with a pair of the bokken they'd been using in the earlier sparring. As the shinobi scatter, he turns back to Nightrival and adopts a Niten stance- one sword pointed straight up, another at his opponent's face. "Come on, then!" ---- "They won't talk, but they can still tell us something. I talked about us trying to track this stuff right in front of them for a reason; if there's anyone who's got them scared into silence, there's a good chance they'll go to them to tell about the pair of capes that's just shown up to ruin everything. If we can follow them without them managing to realize it, we might move a bit higher up on the food chain and get some real answers without needing to rely on the dodgy method of tracing the chemicals. Don't you Americans watch your own spy movies? Best entertainment in the world, I tell you." With a grin that goes unseen, Shinken leaps up onto the rooftop and begins stealthily following the two dealers.

The roundhouse would've been a solid hit to the temple of anyone unarmored, but glances right off the carefully-angled plates of Shinken's helmet. Shinken catches the foot between shoulder and neck, pushing forward to force Nightrival off- balance for a moment: then, he bolts, running away from his opponent at top speed...straight towards the group of watching ninja! Going down into a roll at nearly top speed, he comes up with a pair of the bokken they'd been using in the earlier sparring. As the shinobi scatter, he turns back to Nightrival and adopts a Niten stance- one sword pointed straight up, another at his opponent's face. "Come on, then!" ---- "They won't talk, but they can still tell us something. I talked about us trying to track this stuff right in front of them for a reason; if there's anyone who's got them scared into silence, there's a good chance they'll go to them to tell about the pair of capes that's just shown up to ruin everything. If we can follow them without them managing to realize it, we might move a bit higher up on the food chain and get some real answers without needing to rely on the dodgy method of tracing the chemicals. Don't you Americans watch your own spy movies? Best entertainment in the world, I tell you." With a grin that goes unseen, Shinken leaps up onto the rooftop and begins stealthily following the two dealers.

Not having been Bruised but for once, and being a rather well-armored dude, Shinken's Toughness save is actually +9. Bokken are wooden practise swords designed to emulate a katana; I'm treating them as clubs for damage purposes and katana for purposes of Weapon Specialization...making me competitive again, but still dinimished by an offensive Power Level or two. That's subject to overruling by Heridfel, of course, but I thought it was fair. Taking 10 for Stealth again in the drug-dealing storyline.

Not having been Bruised but for once, and being a rather well-armored dude, Shinken's Toughness save is actually +9. Bokken are wooden practise swords designed to emulate a katana; I'm treating them as clubs for damage purposes and katana for purposes of Weapon Specialization...making me competitive again, but still dinimished by an offensive Power Level or two. That's subject to overruling by Heridfel, of course, but I thought it was fair. Taking 10 for Stealth again in the drug-dealing storyline.

Not having been Bruised but for once, and being a rather well-armored dude, Shinken's Toughness save is actually +9. Bokken are wooden practise swords designed to emulate a katana; I'm treating them as clubs for damage purposes and katana for purposes of Weapon Specialization...making me competitive again, but still dinimished by an offensive Power Level or two. That's subject to overruling by Heridfel, of course, but I thought it was fair. Taking 10 for Stealth again in the drug-dealing storyline.

Shinken doesn't react to the hit, but it leaves a visible dent in the chestplate, and damage reports begin to scroll across his vision. Mostly superficial...but there's enough there to cause me more serious problems if I get hit there again. Got to stop the bleeding. Shift surplus leg armor into backup kodachi configuration. ||Working...|| The man in the armor dances backwards on the balls of his feet, barely evading a wheel kick as the armor on his right leg begins to reconfigure itself into a shape roughly resembling a sword- then abruptly stops. A spark skitters across the surface of the chestplate- right across the dent- and a thin tendril of smoke wafts up. ||Error 1006. Fault reported in chestplate KT266A.|| Benjiro begins to curse in English, deems it unsatisfying, and finds a few choice Japanese expetives that calm him down properly just in time for him to get clobbered again. -- Shinken opens up the bag, finding three small syringes filled with a clear fluid. He squeezes out a drop onto an armored fingertip, brings it to his faceplate, and lets his sensors do their work. "...people can survive this stuff? I'm seeing about eight hundred times the amount of stimulant that you'd need to burst a horse's, heart, Nightrival- this can't be- Wait. There's some weird nitrogen structures in here that might work to time-release...and some other stuff that I don't really understand. It might work, I guess. But this stuff is a designer drug way more complex than anything I've ever seen. I can't see how anyone criminal could possibly find the resources to synthesize something like this. I'm not sure some governments could. More importantly, I really can't see how it could possibly be economical to distribute as a street drug. Anyone distributing this has to have an agenda of some sort. If we track this all the way to its source, you and I could be going up against some very big fish, my friend. ... Anyway. In terms of tracking it, it's definitely unique enough to make false positives a non-issue, and as for detection...well, it's got detection charactarisics that'll make things difficult, but not impossible. We'll have to get out there and see. What does this shit do, anyway? You never told me."

Shinken doesn't react to the hit, but it leaves a visible dent in the chestplate, and damage reports begin to scroll across his vision. Mostly superficial...but there's enough there to cause me more serious problems if I get hit there again. Got to stop the bleeding. Shift surplus leg armor into backup kodachi configuration. ||Working...|| The man in the armor dances backwards on the balls of his feet, barely evading a wheel kick as the armor on his right leg begins to reconfigure itself into a shape roughly resembling a sword- then abruptly stops. A spark skitters across the surface of the chestplate- right across the dent- and a thin tendril of smoke wafts up. ||Error 1006. Fault reported in chestplate KT266A.|| Benjiro begins to curse in English, deems it unsatisfying, and finds a few choice Japanese expetives that calm him down properly just in time for him to get clobbered again. -- Shinken opens up the bag, finding three small syringes filled with a clear fluid. He squeezes out a drop onto an armored fingertip, brings it to his faceplate, and lets his sensors do their work. "...people can survive this stuff? I'm seeing about eight hundred times the amount of stimulant that you'd need to burst a horse's, heart, Nightrival- this can't be- Wait. There's some weird nitrogen structures in here that might work to time-release...and some other stuff that I don't really understand. It might work, I guess. But this stuff is a designer drug way more complex than anything I've ever seen. I can't see how anyone criminal could possibly find the resources to synthesize something like this. I'm not sure some governments could. More importantly, I really can't see how it could possibly be economical to distribute as a street drug. Anyone distributing this has to have an agenda of some sort. If we track this all the way to its source, you and I could be going up against some very big fish, my friend. ... Anyway. In terms of tracking it, it's definitely unique enough to make false positives a non-issue, and as for detection...well, it's got detection charactarisics that'll make things difficult, but not impossible. We'll have to get out there and see. What does this shit do, anyway? You never told me."

Shinken doesn't react to the hit, but it leaves a visible dent in the chestplate, and damage reports begin to scroll across his vision. Mostly superficial...but there's enough there to cause me more serious problems if I get hit there again. Got to stop the bleeding. Shift surplus leg armor into backup kodachi configuration. ||Working...|| The man in the armor dances backwards on the balls of his feet, barely evading a wheel kick as the armor on his right leg begins to reconfigure itself into a shape roughly resembling a sword- then abruptly stops. A spark skitters across the surface of the chestplate- right across the dent- and a thin tendril of smoke wafts up. ||Error 1006. Fault reported in chestplate KT266A.|| Benjiro begins to curse in English, deems it unsatisfying, and finds a few choice Japanese expetives that calm him down properly just in time for him to get clobbered again. -- Shinken opens up the bag, finding three small syringes filled with a clear fluid. He squeezes out a drop onto an armored fingertip, brings it to his faceplate, and lets his sensors do their work. "...people can survive this stuff? I'm seeing about eight hundred times the amount of stimulant that you'd need to burst a horse's, heart, Nightrival- this can't be- Wait. There's some weird nitrogen structures in here that might work to time-release...and some other stuff that I don't really understand. It might work, I guess. But this stuff is a designer drug way more complex than anything I've ever seen. I can't see how anyone criminal could possibly find the resources to synthesize something like this. I'm not sure some governments could. More importantly, I really can't see how it could possibly be economical to distribute as a street drug. Anyone distributing this has to have an agenda of some sort. If we track this all the way to its source, you and I could be going up against some very big fish, my friend. ... Anyway. In terms of tracking it, it's definitely unique enough to make false positives a non-issue, and as for detection...well, it's got detection charactarisics that'll make things difficult, but not impossible. We'll have to get out there and see. What does this shit do, anyway? You never told me."

Can I see an archive of the discussion once it's completed? I'm curious.

Can I see an archive of the discussion once it's completed? I'm curious.

Can I see an archive of the discussion once it's completed? I'm curious.

Shinken failed the damage save, and is now Bruised. Another failure at Shapeshifting- next round I'll try something else. In storyline 2, Shapeshift is set to: 4 extra ranks of Acrobatics 8 of Stealth 8 of Notice Darkvision Direction sense Infravision Extended, Accurate, Acute, Analytical Scent Tracking Super-movement 1: Slow Fall Leaping 2 Also, I make a number of assumptions about the nature of Zoom that seem reasonable to me, but should probably be OK'd by a Ref- particularly that inference about cost. Any drug sophisticated enough to grant temporary super-powers has got to have something strange going on on the manufacturing and distribution end. If one GM or another is willing to help us run it, this could be the start of something big.

Shinken failed the damage save, and is now Bruised. Another failure at Shapeshifting- next round I'll try something else. In storyline 2, Shapeshift is set to: 4 extra ranks of Acrobatics 8 of Stealth 8 of Notice Darkvision Direction sense Infravision Extended, Accurate, Acute, Analytical Scent Tracking Super-movement 1: Slow Fall Leaping 2 Also, I make a number of assumptions about the nature of Zoom that seem reasonable to me, but should probably be OK'd by a Ref- particularly that inference about cost. Any drug sophisticated enough to grant temporary super-powers has got to have something strange going on on the manufacturing and distribution end. If one GM or another is willing to help us run it, this could be the start of something big.

Shinken failed the damage save, and is now Bruised. Another failure at Shapeshifting- next round I'll try something else. In storyline 2, Shapeshift is set to: 4 extra ranks of Acrobatics 8 of Stealth 8 of Notice Darkvision Direction sense Infravision Extended, Accurate, Acute, Analytical Scent Tracking Super-movement 1: Slow Fall Leaping 2 Also, I make a number of assumptions about the nature of Zoom that seem reasonable to me, but should probably be OK'd by a Ref- particularly that inference about cost. Any drug sophisticated enough to grant temporary super-powers has got to have something strange going on on the manufacturing and distribution end. If one GM or another is willing to help us run it, this could be the start of something big.

Made a Shapeshift attempt and failed. I used Vacuum Elemental's roller, since IC is being catankerous for me at the moment.

Made a Shapeshift attempt and failed. I used Vacuum Elemental's roller, since IC is being catankerous for me at the moment.

Made a Shapeshift attempt and failed. I used Vacuum Elemental's roller, since IC is being catankerous for me at the moment.

Shinken takes a basic karate stance in response, being as evasive as possible into an effort to buy some time. Load Daito-ryū software package. Shift surplus leg armor into backup kodachi configuration. ||Working...|| He slips a jab, then barely manages to block an elbow, responding with an easily blocked reverse punch. ||Working...|| ||Working...|| ||Error 4334. Cannot simultaneously load Daito-ryū and KS Jikishinkage-ryū techniques. Conflicting grapple protocols. Abort/Retry/Ignore?|| Damn, damn, damn! Abort! ----- "Well, I wouldn't say that. We don't know that they're neccesarily selling Zoom, and if they aren't it could be-" Shinken stops abruptly, then raps his knuckles on his forehead. "I'm overthinking things. Hey, look- drug dealers! Let's go beat 'em up!" With that, Shinken launches himself into the air, coming down right between the dealers and their customer like a red-gold meteorite. "Stay still and answer questions for the easy way. Run for the hard way. Fight for the very hard way."

Shinken takes a basic karate stance in response, being as evasive as possible into an effort to buy some time. Load Daito-ryū software package. Shift surplus leg armor into backup kodachi configuration. ||Working...|| He slips a jab, then barely manages to block an elbow, responding with an easily blocked reverse punch. ||Working...|| ||Working...|| ||Error 4334. Cannot simultaneously load Daito-ryū and KS Jikishinkage-ryū techniques. Conflicting grapple protocols. Abort/Retry/Ignore?|| Damn, damn, damn! Abort! ----- "Well, I wouldn't say that. We don't know that they're neccesarily selling Zoom, and if they aren't it could be-" Shinken stops abruptly, then raps his knuckles on his forehead. "I'm overthinking things. Hey, look- drug dealers! Let's go beat 'em up!" With that, Shinken launches himself into the air, coming down right between the dealers and their customer like a red-gold meteorite. "Stay still and answer questions for the easy way. Run for the hard way. Fight for the very hard way."

Shinken takes a basic karate stance in response, being as evasive as possible into an effort to buy some time. Load Daito-ryū software package. Shift surplus leg armor into backup kodachi configuration. ||Working...|| He slips a jab, then barely manages to block an elbow, responding with an easily blocked reverse punch. ||Working...|| ||Working...|| ||Error 4334. Cannot simultaneously load Daito-ryū and KS Jikishinkage-ryū techniques. Conflicting grapple protocols. Abort/Retry/Ignore?|| Damn, damn, damn! Abort! ----- "Well, I wouldn't say that. We don't know that they're neccesarily selling Zoom, and if they aren't it could be-" Shinken stops abruptly, then raps his knuckles on his forehead. "I'm overthinking things. Hey, look- drug dealers! Let's go beat 'em up!" With that, Shinken launches himself into the air, coming down right between the dealers and their customer like a red-gold meteorite. "Stay still and answer questions for the easy way. Run for the hard way. Fight for the very hard way."

I'm sorry, from the description I thought it was somehow a grappling disarm. I'll go back and edit. And yes, Shinken is attempting to hide- but only from those on the ground. Nightival should be able to see him just fine.

I'm sorry, from the description I thought it was somehow a grappling disarm. I'll go back and edit. And yes, Shinken is attempting to hide- but only from those on the ground. Nightival should be able to see him just fine.

I'm sorry, from the description I thought it was somehow a grappling disarm. I'll go back and edit. And yes, Shinken is attempting to hide- but only from those on the ground. Nightival should be able to see him just fine.

Attempt at escape: 16. Not the most optimal plan, but a few seconds of panic are a typical reaction for a longer-range striker when a grappler gets in close. Also, taking 10 on Acrobatics checks for jumping, for a standing long jump of 130 feet and a standing high jump of 77.5, as well as 10 on Stealth and Notice for 23 and 18 respectively.

Attempt at escape: 16. Not the most optimal plan, but a few seconds of panic are a typical reaction for a longer-range striker when a grappler gets in close. Also, taking 10 on Acrobatics checks for jumping, for a standing long jump of 130 feet and a standing high jump of 77.5, as well as 10 on Stealth and Notice for 23 and 18 respectively.